The Royal Automobile Club
(RAC) had purchased the 338-acre Woodcote Park estate in 1913 but, at
the outbreak of WW1 in 1914, the War Office requisitioned the property
as a training place for new recruits. The Chairman of the RAC, Arthur Stanley (1869-1947), was asked to form a 'brigade of infantry'.

Despite atrocious weather, work began in November 1914 on the building
of a camp to accommodate 5,400 men and almost 200 officers. Water
and drainage systems were laid and roads were built. Electric
lighting and a telephone system were installed.

The camp was built in two sections - the Farm Camp and the Woodcote Park Camp -
and consisted of over 100 huts for accommodation (each to house 50 men)
and sanitation, a cookhouse, storerooms, mess halls, a large
Recreation Hall, a barbershop, a chapel, a Post Office and a general
store.

In 1915 it was decided that the camp should become a convalescent
hospital for Imperial troops, mainly from Canada. In June 1915
orderlies were sent to prepare Farm Camp for the first patients.

The Canadian Convalescent Hospital opened on 5th September
1915, staffed by the Canadian Army Medical Corps. Initially
the Hospital had 500 beds, but these were soon increased to 1000.
The first patients to arrive, however, were ANZAC troops who had
been wounded in Gallipoli. They were later joined by British
servicemen.

Not all had received gun or shrapnel wounds; many were sick as disease
was rife in the Army. The patients, who wore the saxe blue
uniform of the convalescent soldier, had been discharged from acute
hospitals and stayed for a period of six weeks until they were well
enough to return to their fighting units. During their time in
convalescence, they received physiotherapy from masseuses, while a
staff of trained Sergeant-Instructors provided physical training and
the
discipline of graduated route marches. All sports were encouraged
to get them back into fit condition, and the patients regularly played
baseball (previously unknown in England), as well as cricket and
football against the local teams. Every evening entertainments,
whether home-made or from London, were provided in the Recreation Hall
(which could hold an audience of 1,500) - a theatrical performance, a
film show, a concert or a lecture. If fit enough, many patients
were allowed to visit Epsom.By October 1915 some 600 Canadians were also convalescing
at the Hospital, which had been nicknamed 'Tin City' because of its
wooden huts lined with corrugated galvanised iron. The Farm Camp
section had 1,000 beds and the Woodcote Park Camp section some 500. To
feed this number of patients, women were employed in the kitchens,
where they did all the cooking in a specially built line of huts.

In July 1916 King George, accompanied by Queen Mary, visited the
Hospital. They talked with the patients and then Queen Mary
opened the 'Queen Mary's Tea Rooms'. The Hospital had over 3,000
patients, with 2,500 in the Canadian section. Only a few ANZACs
were left, the New Zealanders having been transferred to the newly
opened New Zealand Convalescent Hospital in Hornchurch, Essex.

Following the Somme offensive in August 1916 and the massive casualties
sustained by the Canadian forces, the entire Hospital was handed over
to the Canadian Army. It became its main convalescent hospital
with 3,800 beds - the largest convalescent hospital in the United
Kingdom. By October 1916 the number of patients had been reduced
to 2,627.

In January 1918 the Hospital had 2,655 patients and, by July, some
3,500. On 10th November there were 4,142 patients. On the
following day, when the war was declared to be over, some 269 were
discharged.

In May 1919, six months after the war had ended, some 2,079 patients
still remained, awaiting repatriation and demobilisation. Some
were under treatment for 'certain vile diseases', that is,
sexually transmitted diseases.

In June 1919 a serious and fatal riot took place in Epsom. Some
Canadian troops had been drinking in a local public house, and a fight
broke out. The civil police arrested one of the soldiers but, on
the way to the Epsom police station, another tried to intervene and was
also arrested. Word soon got round to the other Canadians and a
determined mob stormed the police station. The rioters freed their
colleagues, destroying part of the police station in the process.
After the event, the Station Sergeant was found to have died from
a severe blow to his head. Although five men were sentenced to
five months in prison for their part in the riot, no-one was charged
with the murder.

The Hospital closed ten days later, on 30th June, 1919.

Present status (August 2009)

The Hospital buildings then became
Queen Mary's Convalescent Centre for the continuing treatment and
training of ex-servicemen. It then was briefly used as a Training
Centre for the War Pensions Administration. In 1923 the estate was
returned to the RAC.

During WW2 the mansion house was again used as a Training Centre, while the land was given over to agriculture.

Today the estate is once again in the possession of the RAC, and is a country club with golf course.

The
current main entrance to the estate on Old Barn Road off Wilmerhatch
Lane, near the site of the Farm Camp (new housing along The Ridge marks
the approximate site of the Woodcote Park Camp). The Woodcote Stud is shown on the right of the image.

Looking within Woodcote Park estate from the gates.

The
Lodge at the original entrance on the west along Wilmerhatch Lane
(left). The Lodge on what was probably the original entance on
the eastern side along Langley Vale Road (right).

References
(Author unstated) 1915 The medical service of the Australian Imperial Force. British Medical Journal 2 (2859), 582.